Soil Shear Strength

As mentioned by Mukhsin (2018), soil strength is defined as the ability of soil to resist shear

stress. The load of the soil will eventually be retained because of the effect of soil shear strength where

it can withstand the loads subjected to soil, in which sets the condition of soil in its normal state.

Therefore, it shows the relationship between deep shear between the soil grains and vertical stress

works on shear plane and soil cohesion, wherein they are both directly proportional to each other.

Cohesion and friction are the fundamental components which creates the strength of a soil.

With that, this parameter is significant for it must be taken into consideration as it has correlation

towards the factor of safety, which is used on quantifying slope stability. Thus, factors influencing

the soil shear strength of soils is carefully examined and controlled, as per the required value that

must yield under certain circumstances.

As eloquently stated by Mukhsin (2018), the interaction between the roots and soil caused

additional contribution to the shear strength of soil, particularly the cohesion aspect. It was found that

upon sampling on a saturated soil condition, a significant increase in the stress would be expected when

root branching was increased per se. The tensile stress happening within the interaction of soil and the

root reinforcement was capable on increasing shear strength of the soil, with regards to the varying

diameter of it. This is the reason behind it being widely practiced as a soil bioengineering technique in

handling inherent soil behavior.

Although the root reinforcement aspect became popular for its effectivity on increasing the

shear strength of soils, some researchers in the past also provided several internal factors which

influence the shear strength of soils. Langfelder & Nivargikar (1967) stated that the shear strength of

cohesionless materials is essentially controlled by five factors: mineralogical composition, size and

gradation of the individual particles, shape of the individual particles, void ratio, and confining pressure.

They made use of compacted soils as samples to determine the factors affecting shearing stress, but

also elaborated where do these factors originated, which was stated above. The first three factors are

just underlying properties of materials, therefore it is a matter of preference of appropriate materials

suitable with it. Moreover, their study revealed that only the confining pressure controls the normal
stress, and increasing it for a given cohesionless material will yield enhancement on the shearing

resistance and the stress-strain behavior as well; the remaining aforementioned factors limit the angle

of internal friction.

In addition to these, the shearing strength of a compacted cohesive soils is primarily affected by

6 factors, namely: water content, gradation, dry density, soil structure, thixotropy and the normal

effective stress acting on the failure plane (Langfelder & Nivargikar, 1967). The water content that

influences the shear strength is not only limited to the molding water content, but also the presence of

changes in moisture occurring even after placement.

This study coincides with Holtz & Gibbs (1956) who performed a series of triaxial tests to

determine the relevance of the maximum particle size on the shearing resistance of a sand-gravel

mixture. It showed that for a 20 percent gravel and 80 percent sand mixture, there appeared to be a

slight increase in shear strength when the maximum size was increased from ¾ in. to 3 in. In addition to

these, Means & Parcher (1963) indicated that the angle of friction is inversely related to void ratio, on a

granular material. Considering what these studies imply with their respective data, it appears that the

mentioned characteristics above causes variation in the shearing resistance.

Ayers (1987) in her study revealed that the values for both the cohesion and friction angle

increased with increasing soil density. Multiple linear regression was performed for each soil type to

relate soil cohesion with friction angle to its soil bulk density and moisture content, further investigating

the behavior of coarse-grained soils using torsional shear tests. Her study coincides with Langfelder &

Nivargikar (1967) on water content as a factor influencing shear strength of the soil, except that it was

showed in her study that except at low moisture levels, the soil friction angle is independent of moisture

content. Furthermore, lower soil cohesion values were obtained on soil samples with lower clay content.

Numerical relationships obtained have fully defined the connection between the soil shear strength

parameters and the variation of soil properties exhibited by coarse-grained soil samples.
 Year the sampling took place Type of Soil Used Findings (Factors affecting)
2018 Saturated Soil  Root reinforcement
1967 Cohesive Soil  water content
 gradation
 dry density
 soil structure
 thixotropy
 normal effective stress
acting on the failure
plane
1987 Coarse-Grained Soil  soil density
 water content
Table 1: Factors affecting the Shear Strength based on its Soil Classification

Table 1 depicts the corresponding parameters that can influence the shearing strength of a particular
type of soil. Both the cohesive and coarse-grained soil has soil density and water content in its
parameters affecting its shear strength. The saturated type of soil yielded the least number of
factors influencing change in the shearing strength.

References:

- Holtz, W. G., & Gibbs, H. J. (1956) Tri-axial Shear Test on Pervious Gravelly Soils.

Jour. Soil Mech. and Found. Div., Proc. ASCE, Vol. 82, No. SMl, p. 22.

- Langfelder, L. J., & Nivargikar, V. R. (1967). SOME FACTORS INFLUENCING SHEAR STRENGTH AND
COMPRESSIBILITY OF COMPACTED SOILS. Issue No. 177, pp. 4-21. Retrieved from:
https://trid.trb.org/view/121823

- Means, F. E., and Parcher, J. V. (1963). Physical Properties of Soils. Charles E. Merrill Books, Columbus,

Ohio

- Mukshin (2018). Contribution of Tea Root Reinforcement to Soil Shear Strength on Slope Stability.
Journal of the Civil Engineering Forum, 4 (1), 13-18. Retrieved 6 Jan 2021 from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/322502137_Contribution_of_Tea_Root_Reinforcement_
to_Soil_Shear_Strength_on_Slope_Stability

- P. D. Ayers. (1987). Moisture and Density Effects on Soil Shear Strength Parameters for Coarse Grained
Soils. Transactions of the ASAE, 30(5), 1282–1287. doi:10.13031/2013.30559

Slope Stability